ABC Election Coverage: 2007 New South Wales Election

Port Stephens (Key Seat)

Hunter Valley and Lower North Coast

Safe Labor 7.2%

MP

The retiring Labor MP is John Bartlett, who has represented this seat since 1999.

Profile

Centred on Port Stephens to the north of Newcastle, the district also extends south to the outer edges of Newcastle. Around Port Stephens the seat includes Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest on the northern shore, and Nelsons Bay, Soldiers Point and Lemon Tree Passage on the south side. Also included is Karuah, Medowie, most of Raymond Terrace, and parts of the Newcastle suburbs of Sandgate and Mayfield West to the south of the Hunter River.

Redistribution

Loses most of the industrial suburb of Mayfield near Newcastle in exchange for Fern Bay, and also loses parts of Raymond Terrace to Maitland. Also gained is the northern shore of Port Stephens at Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens. Overall this cuts the Labor majority from 9.3% to 7.2%.

History/Trivia

Created in 1988, Port Stephens has been represented by only two MPs, Labor's Bob Martin 1988-99 and John Bartlett since 1999. At its first contest in 1988, Martin won very narrowly resulting in his Liberal Party opponent launching a court challenge. In a strange Court of Disputed Returns decision, it was ruled that Martin's handing out of government cheques to community groups amounted to electoral bribery, a ruling met with horror by both sides of politics and generally ignored since. At an unwelcome by-election for the Greiner government in November 1988, Martin was easily returned with a 12.9% swing. The 1991 redistribution gave his seat a notional Liberal majority, but Martin was easily returned at the 1991 election, and the seat has remained safely in Labor's hands since.

Issues and Polls

Labor originally pre-selected local avionics technician Aaron Beasley. He was forced to withdraw as Labor candidate in November 2005 after being charged with drink driving. This was at the start of a bad week for the government in the Hunter Valley, with revelations of the speeding habits of Local Government Minister and Cessnock MP Kerry Hickey, as well as the arrest of Aboriginal Affairs Minister and Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos.